


hit me with your best shot

by hipgrab (merrymegtargaryen)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Quidditch, Quidditch World Cup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-30 01:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrymegtargaryen/pseuds/hipgrab
Summary: "So Rey decides to torture him in her own, unique way. She won’t let him ignore her."In which Rey and Ben are rival Quidditch players recruited to play for England in the World Cup.





	hit me with your best shot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tmwillson3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmwillson3/gifts).



> The prompt was for modern au rooting for rival sporting teams, but since I know nothing about Muggle sports, I decided to write about the only sport with which I am familiar. Hope you enjoy!

“You have  _ got _ to be kidding me.”

Poe shakes his head, grin on his face. “Nope, not kidding.”

Rey bangs her head against her locker. She gets picked to be on England’s World Cup team at the age of only nineteen, a dream she never thought would become a reality…

...only to find that her teammate is Ben bloody Solo. 

Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps, Solo is one of the most aggressive players against whom Rey has ever had the displeasure of playing. The man is built like a brick wall and absolutely uses it to his advantage, whether he’s using his body to block Rey from the Snitch or pelting Bludgers her way. Once he’d even knocked her off her broom and she’d passed out from it. Only for a minute, and they’d still won the match, but  _ still _ .

And it isn’t just the way he behaves during games, either; he’s actively rude to Rey, ignoring her when possible and refusing to make eye contact or speak in more than monosyllables when he can’t avoid her any longer. 

And now he’s to be her teammate for the World Cup. 

This  _ would  _ be her luck. 

“Look on the bright side--at least he won’t be aiming any Bludgers  _ at _ you,” Poe says helpfully. 

“I don’t know--he took that last loss pretty hard. Maybe he’ll knock me off my broom again in revenge.”

“I think he’ll be preoccupied with the Germans.”

“That’s what he wants us all to think. And then, right as I’m about to close in on the Snitch, WHAM! Bludger to the head.”

“I think you’re being dramatic.”

She probably is--more likely, Ben Solo won’t pay a lick of attention to her. He’ll ignore her as he always does.

So Rey decides to torture him in her own, unique way.

She won’t let him ignore her.

.

Because of its size, the team will be practicing at the Bodmin Moor Millennium Stadium. Rey has played here once before and finds the size somewhat intimidating, in part because it makes it that much harder to find the Snitch. She caught it, though, as she always does. She’s never not caught a Snitch, which has accelerated the Tutshill Tornadoes’ success to unreal levels and is also why England was so eager to recruit her for the World Cup. 

She can’t help but smile whenever she remembers that. She’s only two years out of Hogwarts and already playing the World Cup. 

Rey meets the rest of the team as soon as she gets to the hotel in Cornwall. Their rooms are all lumped together, so she soon becomes acquainted with Rose and Paige Tico (Chasers), Finn Storm (Beater), Kaydel Ko Connix (Chaser), and their Captain and Keeper, Oliver Wood. 

Solo is the last to arrive, something that Rey suspects is because it minimizes the time he has to spend socializing. He makes straight for his room, but Rey blocks him with a cheeky grin.

“Hello, Solo.”

He looks surprised, then sullen, his eyes fixed slightly to the left. “Hello.”

She shifts so that she’s in his frame of vision. “Excited to play for the World Cup?”

“Mmm.”

_ Utter bastard _ , she thinks. “Too bad you can’t knock me out with a Bludger this time, eh?”

Something flashes across his face and, for the first time since that Quidditch match, he looks her straight in the eyes. He looks pained. Not the usual kind of pain, either, the pain of having to interact with a human being, but more the sort of pain that comes from regret. 

And then Oliver Wood is bounding forward to greet his Beater and their conversation is over.

_ Only for now, _ Rey thinks. 

She isn’t letting Solo get off that easily.

.

But as it turns out, Rey hardly has to torment Solo, because Wood is doing a pretty good job of tormenting all of them. 

The Keeper has them working from sunup to sundown, putting them through exercises that leave them limp puddles of pain by the time they stagger to bed. Rey has never in her life worked this hard, and she’s so exhausted for the first couple of weeks that she almost forgets about her mission to torment Ben Solo.

Almost.

They’re running practice laps early one morning when she pulls up alongside Solo. He casts a furtive glance at her and then turns his attention back to the stadium.

“Big stadium, eh?” she asks conversationally.

Another furtive glance. “Mm.”

“Ever played here?”

“Mm.”

“Ever speak in more than one syllable?”

His lips twitch, almost as if he’s smiling. But then he says, “Sometimes.”

“Look at that, a whole two syllables!” she whoops. “I’ll have you talking in full sentences by the World Cup, Solo.”

He’s quiet for a moment before she hears it. “Is that a threat?”

He speeds ahead, Rey’s cheer ringing around the stadium.

.

Rey likes her teammates, especially Finn and Rose. The three of them like sneaking Firewhiskey into each other’s rooms and chatting as they read articles gossip magazines post about them. Of course everyone is speculating about blooming romances, and Rey is amused to see herself paired with just about every member of the team, including some of the reserve players. Her favorite, though, has got to be the spread of her and Solo. Someone’s taken pictures of them practicing, and Rey is amused to see herself flying along beside Solo, talking his ear off during laps or throwing personal questions his way during drills. It’s like a game they play, where she does everything she can to make him pay attention to her and he pays her as little attention as it’s possible to give. Rather than getting affronted by it, though, Rey looks forward to their daily tussle, and even to Solo’s determined silence. 

She brings up the gossip magazine spread at practice the next day.

“They’re these really charming photos, you know, and of course people think we’re madly in love, or having some truly athletic sex or something, and--”

“What,” Solo asks with a grimace, “do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“But  _ why _ ?”

She considers telling him and then decides, why not? The Cup is in a few weeks, and after that they’ll go back to playing for rival teams. “Because you hate it.”

Solo pulls up short, and Rey, surprised, does the same, turning to face him.

“You think I hate it?”

“Don’t you?” she demands. “You’re always avoiding me.”

Solo opens and closes his mouth several times, clearly trying to think of how to respond. But words, as usual, seem to fail him, so he leans forward and zooms past her.

“What a weirdo,” Rey mutters.

.

“He’s definitely weird,” Finn says that night. “But I think it’s because he’s nervous.”

“About the Cup?”

Finn shrugs. “Maybe. But I think it’s something else.”

“He doesn’t like talking to people,” Rey says from where she’s lying across Rose’s bed. 

“He’s fine with me,” Finn says with surprise.

“Yeah, me too,” Rose agrees, and then they both turn to Rey.

“What?” she asks at the looks on their faces.

“Maybe he’s afraid of you.”

Rey laughs a great belly laugh. “That’s stupid, why would he be afraid of me?”

Rose opens up the gossip magazine with the latest spread about Rey and Solo. There are photos from the day the team spent on one of the beaches, and though most of them are of Rey talking and grinning up at a reserved Solo, one of them shows him looking down at her while she isn’t paying attention. He looks...serene. As if he likes looking at her and listening to her talk.

But it only looks that way, she knows, because the truth is that Ben Solo doesn’t like looking at her or listening to her. Somehow, that makes her a little sad.

When she goes to bed that night, she hesitates before turning out the bedside lamp. Guiltily, she reaches for the magazine and opens it to the page of her and Solo, ignoring the other pictures of them walking together and focusing on the one where he’s looking at her. 

He really does look as if he likes her.

.

If Solo is still avoiding Rey after their awkward (if one-sided) conversation, she barely notices because Wood has them working harder than ever. She’s too tired even to sit up with Finn and Rose after practice, choosing instead to soak in the tub and then climb into bed. Wood’s even started regulating what they eat and drink, and Rey, who has an incorrigible sweet tooth, finds herself in a bad mood after going so long without sugar. 

She’s so tired and in such a bad mood one morning that she almost doesn’t realize Solo is trying to talk to her.

“Huh?” she asks, jerking herself out of her angry reverie and staring at him in shock. 

“I said, are you feeling okay?” he repeats patiently, eyes locked on hers. They’re very intense eyes, she’s noticing. 

“I hate everything,” slips out before she can stop herself.

Solo’s lips twitch. “That’s fair.”

“I miss sugar.”

“I haven’t had sugar since Hogwarts.”

Rey stares at him.

His lips twitch again.

“You’re joking!” she realizes. “You’re capable of making a joke!”

“Only kind of,” he allows. “I don’t eat a lot of sugar. Try to keep in shape.”

“That’s unfortunate. I frequently have Cauldron Cakes for dinner.”

Solo shakes his head.

“Niima!” Wood calls, getting her attention. “You’re up!”

“Well,” Rey says, getting up and shouldering her broom. “See you.”

“Yeah,” Solo says softly. “See you.”

.

When Rey gets back to her room the following night, she’s delighted to find a box of Cauldron Cakes waiting for her. They could only be from one person. 

Ben Solo, she’s finding, is full of surprises. 

.

She thanks him for the Cauldron Cakes at practice the next day. He turns bright pink.

“Glad you liked them,” he mumbles.

She lets them fly in silence for a moment before asking, “Why are you being nice to me?”

“Because I’ve been an asshole,” he says, and that surprises her. “You thought I didn’t like you and that...isn’t true. I do like you.”

Rey doesn’t know what to say to that. 

.

They’re a week out from the World Cup and everyone is stressed. They take promo pictures for  _ The Daily Prophet _ and make an appearance on Lee Jordan’s radio show, though they have to do very little to promote the World Cup--it’s the biggest event of the wizarding world at the moment, as it is every four years, and England and Germany haven’t played each other in almost two hundred years. The hype is already overwhelming.

When they arrive at the stadium a few days early, they find people already camped out, eager to begin the festivities and maybe catch a glimpse of the players. 

The Players’ Village, as their ring of tents is called, is well-shielded, both from prying eyes and from wandering drunks. Rey’s tent is nice and spacious, equipped with a massage table and a jacuzzi. She spends as much of her limited free time as possible with one or the other, working out the knots in her muscles and soothing her tired limbs.  _ Soon, _ she tells herself. 

Truth be told, she doesn’t entirely mind the stiffness and soreness, because it’s a good distraction from her own nerves. She hasn’t played nearly as many matches as her teammates, and she’s not only playing on their team, but she’s expected to win and end the game. It’s a lot of pressure, and it’s something she doesn’t want to think about.

She’s trooping back to her tent at the end of practice, looking forward to a nice long soak in her jacuzzi, when Solo appears at her side. 

“Can I talk to you?” he asks in a low voice. 

“Of course,” she says with some surprise.

“Not out here. In your tent.”

Mystified, she nods and leads him to her tent. She ducks in first, holding back the flap for him. 

“What’s up?” she asks when they’re inside, undoing the leather braces on her arms. 

He takes a deep breath. “What I said a couple weeks ago about liking you...it’s more than that. The reason I never talk around you is because you make me nervous. I can’t look into your eyes sometimes because I get scared.”

She pauses. “Solo, what are you--”

“I have...very intense feelings for you.” He swallows. “I have since the first time we played against each other. I never meant to hit you with that Bludger and I’ve spent every day since then regretting it.” He takes another deep breath. “I know this is bad timing but I just...I can’t spend another day holding it in. And now I’m gonna go because I’m too scared to hear what you have to say.”

“Ben!” she says, but he’s already leaving her tent. She considers running after him, but what would she say? She doesn’t know how she feels about him. Until recently, she couldn’t stand the bloke. But now…

They aren’t exactly  _ friends _ , but they’re...well, they’re  _ something _ . 

Does she like Ben Solo? She doesn’t  _ dis _ like him. She likes talking to him, even when it’s one-sided. She likes that he has a very dry sense of humor. She thinks back to those paparazzi pictures, the ones of her and Ben flying together, walking together on the beach, the way he’d looked at her when she wasn’t paying attention. 

Ben likes her, and the World Cup is in two days and Rey...Rey just doesn’t have it in her to figure this out.

She divests herself of her Quidditch robes and then sinks into the jacuzzi, trying to let the hot water soak her problems away. After the Cup, she decides. She’ll figure out her feelings then. In the meantime, she has to focus on one thing: catching the Snitch.

.

The morning of the match dawns bright and clear. Wood goes easy on them for morning practice, and then miraculously gives them the afternoon off. Unable to wander the ever-growing campsite, Rey decides to fly laps around the stadium. Some of the German players are doing the same thing, and though they’ll be playing against each other in a few hours, they don’t bother Rey and she doesn’t bother them.

Unwillingly, her thoughts turn to Ben. He has feelings for her. Very intense feelings, he’d called them. And it makes Rey happy and warm and scared all at the same time. He isn’t an asshole, he’s just awkward because he’s had a thing for her and he’d knocked her out with a Bludger once and didn’t know what to do. 

She finds herself smiling. What a numpty. 

She imagines life with Ben--if it were ever to go that far. Dating him would be easier than dating other people because as a Quidditch player, he’d get it. He’d get the insane practice schedules, the pre-match rituals, the desire to go out without getting recognized. Maybe she could convince him to eat sugar now and then, and in return, she’d let him make her drink those weird green smoothies he likes so much. She’d prattle, as always, and sometimes he’d chime in with a few rare but meaningful words, and they’d just go on like that for hours, Rey blathering, Ben listening, each of them happy to be there. And their kids would--

Merlin. Their  _ kids _ .

Rey gives herself an angry spurt of speed. A few hours until the match and she’s imagining having his  _ kids _ ? No, she needs to stop thinking of that. It’ll only distract her during the match, and she has to focus. 

Even if she is starting to realize that maybe she likes Ben a lot more than she thought.

.

The locker room vibrates with nervous energy as they suit up. Overhead, they can hear thousands of witches and wizards thundering into the stadium, claiming their seats for the biggest event of the year. Rey gets sick three times before Wood’s pep talk. She isn’t the only one.

“All right, team,” Wood says with a look of pride. “It’s almost here. The big moment. The World Cup. All of my life has been leading to this moment. And now we finally get to show them what we’re made of. I couldn’t be prouder of you lot, and I know you’ll make me proud out there. I know you’ll make  _ England _ proud.”

Finn throws up in the bucket he’s been carrying around with him.

“All right,” Wood says, tactfully ignoring Finn. “Let’s get out there.”

The team troops out of the changing rooms and behind the stadium. Together, they mount their brooms and soar up, up, up into the air; then, they rocket into the stadium to an eruption of screams and cheers. 

Rey grins at England’s fans, bedecked in red, white, and blue, Union Jacks everywhere. She raises a fist in the air and more cheers follow. Not far from her, Finn is unrecognizable from his earlier, puking self; now, he’s blowing kisses to the crowd and laughing a great belly-laugh. The Tico sisters are zooming around the stadium in perfectly synchronized laps, Wood is looking a little emotional, Connix is trading good-natured barbs with one of the German players and Ben…

Ben is watching Rey. 

She flushes and then gives him a thumbs-up. It feels like an incredibly lame gesture, and she’s starting to berate herself for it when he returns it, quirking the corner of his mouth in a small smile. 

Her heart soars. 

.

The match is brutal.

Rey knew it would be--fourteen of the best players in the wizarding world were never going to go easy on each other. The Germans don’t play dirty, but they play hard, and despite Wood’s best efforts, they manage to score a number of times. 

Rey tries to keep her mind off the rest of the game and focus on the Snitch. It’s  _ incredibly  _ hard in a stadium this size with hundreds of thousands of spectators watching and moving and making noise, and she’s ready to tear out her own hair with frustration when she sees something glint by Wood’s ear. She freezes, her sharp eyes scanning for that glint again. 

There it is, still hovering by Wood. She leans forward, zooming towards the little ball. The crowd gasps and points, and before the German Seeker, Hubermann, can act, Rey has her hand outstretched and is closing in on the Snitch.

It doesn’t go quietly. The golden ball skitters up and down, pulling Rey and Hubermann on a stomach-turning chase. They’re neck and neck, shoulders brushing they’re so close, and--

Rey’s hand closes around the Snitch.

The stadium erupts in screams and stamps of approval, commentators announcing in various languages that England has won the World Cup. Finn and Rose collide with Rey, screaming as they hug her. She looks over their shoulders and sees Ben smiling at her. Gently, she disengages from Finn and Rose, and then she zooms towards Ben, throwing her arms around him and kissing him soundly.

If the cheers before were loud, they’re nothing compared to now. The noise is deafening, but Rey can’t hear a thing, wrapped up as she is in Ben and the feel of his lips on hers. In her fist, the Snitch beats its tiny wings. 

It is the happiest moment of Rey’s life. 

  
  



End file.
